Newsletter August 18th 2022

Water shortage

John Harrison has sent out his latest newsletter. Useful stuff.


Allotment Garden August Extra 2022
Dear Mike
In my last newsletter I mentioned the lack of rain being more of a problem than the heatwave. Plants will generally cope well with a period of hot weather but lack of water is a major problem. Now they’ve declared a drought, expect more restrictions and hosepipe bans.
Just to be clear, if you have put in rainwater harvesting and storage, you can use a hosepipe to water your plot from your own tanks or butts. You will most likely need a pump to provide enough flow - either mains powered or by battery. There’s a wide range to choose from but I’ve had a couple of people praising the Bosch system  so that may be worth shortlisting.
Remember, the ban applies to using a hosepipe for mains water, not harvested water from your tanks.
There’s been a lot in the press about using grey water from the bathroom and ways of reducing how much water you need for the garden. All valid but the thing is, if we are going to get more hot, dry summers then we will need to set up our own water systems ready to catch the winter rains.
Putting a decent volume of water capture and storage in is quite an investment. Even with climate change, we’re possibly looking at one in five years being too dry – maybe more in the south east of England. And not so long ago they were telling us we were going to have wetter summers with climate change. Confused? I am!
Incidentally, whilst there are variations between water companies with a hosepipe ban, most are allowing pressure regulated drip watering systems that are fitted with a timer. Registered disabled are also allowed to use a hosepipe in the garden.